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Sunday, May 06, 2007

First - The Journal

No, dear reader, I have not yet answered my e-mail, unpacked my bags or read all of my mail but here I am thinking of you and wanting to get something up after 2 weeks of nada. Spain was magnificent and Portugal almost better; everything went off without a hitch and we are back home again to our lonely little cat-boy and thriving garden. We owe all of our joy to our good friends here who watched our house and watered our plants; our dear Kay even had snacks waiting for us on our arrival home last night for which we were very grateful.

We ate like gluttons and drank like fish; walked all over every town we visited and I took over 750 photographs. Most of my photos are not very high quality but good enough to share over the web; who prints out pictures anymore? Unless, of course, we plan to collage them somewhere. But that's another story.

I took lots of pictures of castle windows and doors; door-knockers and graffiti. I met a bullfighter in the lobby of our hotel after watching him on the TV in the bar deliver the coup d'grace to a thundering bull (I know, I felt sorry for the bull too but the matador was oooh-la-la and the bull was huge and scary so you have to admit that it was amazing of him to have faced such terror). The suit of lights was fabulous, his physique amazing and his face to die for. Sheesh, what a thrill! I love me a matador.

We all agreed that Barcelona was the city with the most going for it from our perspective; the Gaudi architecture and tiles, the fun on the Rambles, the enormous outdoor market there, the tapa bars, the people from everywhere to marvel over. Exotic and yet familiar; it felt perfectly perfect.

I fell in love with the Alhambra like so many before me. I have always been attracted to moorish design and the gentle architecture of that place which communicated to me a spirit of people both poetic and gentle. Lovers of beauty and grace. Likewise the Mezquita in Seville, that former mosque with the light and dark arches. Photos coming; not too many but a few to share.

My other favorites were Rondo (Hemingway, Rilke, Orson Welles also loved this town) and Obidos. I feel guilty leaving anything or any place out. It was all good; eye opening and transforming.

But for now I must go and get some laundry done. Back to the nuts and bolts of daily life.

11 comments:

  1. Welcome back Judy, sounds like you had a great time. I envy you seeing the real Gaudi works of art, he's one of my favourites. I can image the paintings we are going to see from you soon, with all that lovely colour. Your journal looks terrific.
    Ro
    xo

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  2. Welcome back from me too. Thanks for sharing your journal pages so quickly. I've been wondering how your trip went. Sounds like it was great. Tengo celos. (A bit of Spanish for you, I'm jealous.)

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  3. Welcome home! I just want to drink up the incredible colors and images of your journal. Wow! I can't wait to hear more about everything...

    (and thank you for thinking of us here in blog world right away as i, for one, have greatly missed your posts...)

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  4. Anonymous9:52 PM

    I've been checking in constantly to see if you're back. YOU ARE! And Wow those rich colorful densely packed journal pages are really beautiful. Can't wait to see the door knockers and everything else. I hope you post A LOT of photos. I for one, can't get enough.

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  5. Wow, sounds like a wonderful trip! So glad you had a great time...and your pages are beautiful.

    Welcome home, Judy!

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  6. Anonymous6:49 AM

    Thank you thank you for so generously sharing your trip with us. What a treat this (snowy!!!) Monday AM in Larkspur Colorado!

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  7. Anonymous5:16 PM

    Lovely to have you back, m'dear. I can't wait to see the Spain surfacing in your luscious paintings!

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  8. Yea you're back! Welcome home! Your journal pages are so rich and luscious! Simply incredible! What a wonderful way to savor and preserve all the memories from your trip. Can't wait to hear more!

    Let me know once you've caught your breath...I'd love to see you soon. xoxo

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  9. Anonymous9:32 AM

    Welcome back Judy! Wow! Love all these journal pages! So awesome! Thank you for the sweet comment on my blog! :)

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  10. Anonymous7:33 PM

    What did you use to get the colour on your journal pages?

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  11. Hi TandJ,
    I used watercolor for the background on the first 3 pages and acrylic on the others. The watercolor always looks brighter but the acrylic makes the pages thick and crunchy; I like that.

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